Amber Moth
by Cazilla
Summary: Draco is starting his 6th year of school, but unknowingly left home with 2 mysterious items that would soon change his life forever. Secrets of his father's past are revealed and He can't seem to shake the obsessive grasp of Hermione Granger...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Pale Dingy Orange

"Quickly son, just get them out of sight!" Narcissa said hastily shoving random items into Draco's hands.

The Ministry of Magic was now conducting raids on suspected death eater households so unexpectedly that Draco's mother had gone into hysterics once they caught word about the Rosier house being searched. Now, since Lucius had been in prison for roughly three months after being found guilty of being a death eater, it was up for Draco and his mother to search the manor for anything illegal. Of course, many items were Malfoy heirlooms and only Lucius knew what power each item held, but in fear of being convicted herself, Narcissa insisted they clear out anything unnecessary.

Draco tossed another armful of trinkets, poisons, books, and totems into the hidden trapdoor in their drawing room. He had grown tired of his mother's constant worrying, but understood it as well. If she were to be convicted, where would he go? He was far too young to be allowed to stay in the manor by himself, and he'd be wearing a toe tag before anybody threw him into an orphanage. This thought alone helped him through all of the mindless hours of sorting and cleaning the entire manor.

"Do you think this could be considered illegal?" Narcissa asked while examining what looked like a real human skull incased in a sphere of glass. Draco merely shrugged, and she handed it to him to add to the rest of the items they intended to hide.

Many hours they had spent sorting through every room in the giant house, and this was the last room left. Draco was bitter about spending his last week of holiday stuck inside the manor, and many times he pleaded with his mother to just let the house elves clear everything out. This notion, of course, was out of the question. Narcissa had become so paranoid that she felt she had to touch every item before deciding its fate. It seemed that ninety percent of the house had either been destroyed or locked away.

After sorting through everything, Narcissa found herself pacing the entire house checking and double checking that all was clear. Draco, however, had to pack up for the trip to Hogwarts. The sixth year was but one witching hour away and for the first time he was actually looking forward to leaving the spoiled life at home. He mulled around his room rounding up all of his fresh-bought supplies and robes, making sure that everything was there. Once packed, he couldn't think of anything else to do, and went to asleep.

Draco awoke the next day to the frantic shuffling of his mother up and down the corridors. Once out of bed and dressed, he took his trunk and school bag down to the foyer and went to the kitchen for breakfast. While eating his toast, his mother rushed in looking flushed carrying a few more items she thought would be dangerous to have in the house.

"There's no more space left in the drawing room chamber, and I can't think of what to do with these!"

Draco couldn't see exactly what she was holding, the items were quite small.

"Maybe I'll drop them somewhere in the train station" she muttered, not really talking to Draco at all.

Once at King's Cross, Narcissa was repeatedly checking was pockets and looking to and fro. Draco pretended not to notice, and walked on with his usual audacity. They snuck through the barrier to the platform, and Draco decided to ease his mother's nerves, but really only trying to keep from being embarrassed in front of his classmates.

"Just put them in here, I'll dump them somewhere at school," Draco opened his school bag discreetly.

"No, Draco, I don't want you to get in trouble. We simply can't afford to risk anything, I mean, if you get caught with these, they could take you away from me, and I just want what is best-"

"Mum! Calm down, we don't even know what these are, and they really could be harmless. You're being paranoid," Draco whispered.

His mother seemed to deflate and glow at the same time. Those were the exact word she needed to hear in order to calm her down; Draco was relieved.

"Okay, but please get rid of them as soon as you can," she hugged him and dropped a tiny phial, and what looked like a rock into his bag so nobody on the platform would see.

"Bye mum."

"-I love you-, and have a good term. Make sure to write as soon as you can."

"You too, and I will."

Draco stalked away to get his trunk loaded onto the train and found Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, and Pansy all waiting to escape their parents as well. They found a compartment easily, as Crabbe yanked a few horrified first years out of one to make room.

"How was everyone's summer?" Draco drawled, gazing out the window and acting as if he were merely keeping up with social conventions.

"Fine," Blaise said with a snarl.

Draco heard the snarl in Blaise's voice without even having to look at him directly.

"What's wrong with you?" Draco said as he turned towards Blaise.

"House got raided of course, and I know for a fact that your manor will be searched as well," Blaise said pompously, "We were just lucky that what they found wasn't too horrible. Just a few fines are all."

The Hogwarts Express starting moving and many students filed through the corridor looking for seats.

"I heard that the Nott house was searched as well," Pansy added, looking slightly scared.

"I'll bet your father has loads of dark stuff hidden, Draco. I'd be careful if I were you."

"We've gone through everything already," Draco defended himself "Mum's been frantic all week. Of course, there are tons of items that we don't know anything about, so we just tossed most of it. Father will be in a right state when he gets out."

Draco watched as Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked in hoping to see empty seats, and glared once they saw who occupied the compartment.

"We gonna follow them?" asked Goyle.

"No, I have to be in the prefect cart in a bit," said Draco in a disappointed voice, though insincere.

As much fun as he'd had over the years terrorizing the golden trio, his mind was still wrapped around his father. Draco didn't know whether or not to follow in Lucius's footsteps and commit to the dark lord. He was sure if he did, it would completely crush his mother, but it would also make Lucius unbelievably proud to have such an heir.

Draco sat in silence watching the countryside slip past him as Crabbe and Goyle stuck their feet into the corridor, tripping anyone who walked by. Soon enough, he left for the prefect cart, and ended up trailing Hermione and Ron.

"…Well, you've always been amazing in every class, why are you so nervous about term?"

"I've been okay at the ones that have already passed, how can you know that I'll do as well in more difficult lessons?"

"It's common sense, that's why! You're the most brilliant witch in our year, possibly in the entire school!"

"Oh, don't flatter me, Ron."

"I may vomit…" Draco said just loud enough for them to hear.

Hermione and Ron whipped their heads around and scowled, but walked on.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron said.

"Ron, don't, it's not worth starting anything with him," she made sure to put extra emphasis on the word 'him' for Draco to hear, and now he wished he had taken up Crabbe and Goyle's offer to follow and taunt them earlier.

The prefect meeting was the same boring thing as usual, and Draco set off to patrol the corridors of the train afterward. He walked back into the compartment some time later and saw that everyone had already changed into their robes. There wasn't much to talk about, but Draco was comfortable sitting in silence until the train finally chugged into Hogsmeade station.

Once in Hogsmeade, they piled into a carriage. The ride to the castle was silent as well, and Draco was a little concerned about Pansy. She normally never shut her mouth around him. They stepped out at the castle doors, entered the Great Hall, and sat at the Slytherin table to enjoy the start of term feast. After the horrified first years had been sorted, Dumbledore said his usual speech about the forbidden forest and all of the items that Filch had banned. Everyone ate until they could eat no more and made their way to their dorms. Draco didn't feel very tired, and lay in bed for at least an hour until his eyes finally stayed closed.

The schedules were given out the next day over breakfast and Draco had his usual Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Divination, Defense against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Astronomy, and History of Magic. His first lesson of the day was Potions, and he knew that it would be with the Gryffindors. Draco finished his breakfast and headed to the dungeons with his cronies.

The class filed in and Draco sat at his group's usual table, Blaise at his side. Snape was waiting for everyone to sit before ordering silence.

"Today you will be making the Elixir to Induce Euphoria. It will be on page – Ten points from Gryffindor Weasley and it'll be more if you don't hold your tongue," Ron was talking to Hermione at the other side to the room, but shut his mouth at Snape's request. "It is on page 37 of your books. Now, the elixir is indeed an advanced potion and may have some side effects – Twenty points this time for interrupting my class once again. Now, I will pair you all up myself since Weasley has now taken away everyone's privilege of choosing their own partners. Weasley, you pair up with Crabbe. Potter, you with Goyle, and Granger you can pair with Malfoy."

Draco looked up at Snape with pleading eyes, hoping he would change his mind, but Snape seamed heart-set on giving the golden trio a hard time. He went around the classroom pairing everyone up. In the end, Granger was sitting next to Draco looking just as annoyed as he felt, and Blaise was sitting next to a trembling Neville.

"Now, you will all attempt to make the potion correctly, and your partners will test it for you," Snape smirked coldly with his eyes flashing over to the table that the trio was now sitting. Draco's spirits lifted significantly; he knew Granger wouldn't mess up any assignment given to her. With her as a partner, he felt no pressure to try very hard, and knew that he wouldn't be poisoned.

"You may begin."

Everyone bustled around grabbing ingredients and lighting the fires beneath their cauldrons. Hermione already had everything ready by the time Draco had even lit his flame. They worked on their potions for close to an hour before Snape told the class that the time was up.

"Bottle up a sample for your partner to try and clean up. Then, we will begin the testing."

Draco put a bit of his potion in one of his small phials. It was nowhere near the expected sunshine yellow color of Hermione's, but was a rather dingy pale orange. He corked the bottle and turned around to set in on the counter when Ron bumped arms with Crabbe, causing a small tussle. Crabbe's massive arms knocked over nearly everything on and around the table, including Draco's potion sample and his bag, the contents of which were now all over the floor.

As Snape broke the two of them off and docked more points from Ron, Draco started shoveling his books and quills back into his bag. Then he noticed something among the strewn items; it was an opaque, orange colored rock with what looked like an insect inside. This must have been the rock his mother dropped in there the previous day. He picked it up and put it in his bag to examine it later. He grabbed the phial of potion off the floor and resurfaced from behind the table to see Ron's nose bleeding.

Everyone had calmed down and they were all now sampling their partner's potions. Most people didn't change at all and a few giggled lightly, but poor Blaise swelled up everywhere and Neville had to rush him to the hospital wing. Finally Draco handed Hermione his orange-brown potion, which now looked more worrying than it did earlier. She drank it down and smiled. Draco waited for something really bad to happen to her, but nothing did. She just gazed at him with tender look in her eyes. He sipped his down as well, and felt incredibly happy; so happy that he almost patted Hermione on the back for her successful potion.

The students all starting packing things to leave, half of them not being able to stop smiling, some hiccupping, and a few seemed nauseated. Draco tucked the potions book into his bag, and saw a phial on the ground out of the corner of his eye. He picked it up and realized it looked a lot like the potion Hermione had just drunk. The potion inside it was indeed a dingy orange, and the bottle looked newer than the one he'd handed her. He poured it into one of the sinks and shoved the empty phial back into his bag

Draco left the classroom sufficiently confused. If that was the potion he made, then what did Hermione drink? Walking to Charms with his cronies, it suddenly hit him like a bag of bricks. He never disposed of the items that his mother slipped into his bag; that curious insect was indeed one of them. Draco sat down in the Charms classroom and began rummaging through his bag to see what else was in there. All he found were his school supplies, and the rock with the insect in it.

Draco now remembered his mother dropping a rock, and a small phial of liquid into his bag before he set off for school. Hermione drank the potion that had been kept in the manor most likely since before Draco was even born…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Lake Shore

Draco's palms were dampening as he sat in the Charms classroom. He didn't know what to think, or even how to think; what was going to happen to Hermione, and even more worrying: what would happen to Draco if that potion turned out to be illegal? The lesson had passed by without Draco having heard a word that Flitwick had uttered.

He raced down to lunch, walking as fast as his wobbly legs could carry him without looking too suspicious and sat with his cronies. Draco didn't take the slightest interest in the food spread out in front of him, instead he watched as Hermione walked in with Harry and Ron. The two boys were having a conversation to themselves, leaving Hermione to walk dazedly by herself, seemingly oblivious to anyone around her. She stared off into space, deep in thought, even as she sat down and plated up some food.

"Oi, you alright mate?" Blaise waved a hand in front of Draco's face.

"Oh – yeah I'm fine, just zoning out I guess," Draco lied to his best friend, but Blaise just seemed to shrug it off and dived into his lunch.

Draco pretended to enjoy his food, casually glancing over at the Gryffindor table to still see if Hermione was either alive or still looked normal. Nothing happened whilst Draco was sitting there and the Slytherins headed down to the greenhouses for their Herbology lesson, which Draco now remembered was with the Gryffindors.

They all assembled to listen to Professor Sprout's introduction to the sixth year and also their instructions on pruning the Venomous Tentacula. The class divided up five students per plant, and got to work. Draco wasn't exactly paying attention to the plant he was supposed to be snipping and was frequently a victim of its giant thorns. Hermione was at the far corner of the room, and almost seemed to be humming to herself while snipping the leaves of her plant, stealing glances at Draco every so often.

When the class left, Hermione caused her friends to stay behind when she clumsily spilled a pot containing a self-fertilizing shrub.

"Oops! I'll stay behind and clean it up, Professor," she giggled and looked at Draco.

Hermione did seem to be acting odd, even though Draco didn't know her very well and he decided that he peek at his potions book later to see if any potion fit the description of the tiny phial she drank. During his last lesson of the day, Defense against the Dark Arts, Draco grew antsy and was constantly looking at the time; he swore five minutes had gone by and when he'd look, the hands of the clock didn't seem to move at all.

When he was finally in the Slytherin common room some time later, he began searching through his copy of Advanced Potion-Making, looking for orange-colored potions. Every single potion he'd found either didn't have the side-effects that Hermione was showing, or was to be taken when one was expecting to walk through black fire. Frustrated, he tossed his book back into his bag and heard a small clunking noise. He reached into the bag and pulled out the insect stuck in amber. He lost track of just how long he stared at it and before long, his mind wandered and he began to feel proud of whom he was; like no matter what anyone would tell him, he could have anything he wanted. His friends bustled into the common room breaking his trance-like state and Draco thrust the insect back into his bag before anyone else could see it.

"Can you believe we already have homework for Charms?" Pansy complained as she sat next to the fireplace.

"I know, what were we supposed to do again?" Draco didn't even know they were given homework, as his mind was far too preoccupied through every single class.

"One foot of parchment about nonverbal spells," Pansy rolled her eyes and made to start on the essay right away.

"I'm going to the library to get it done then, I'll catch you all later," Draco left the common room with leery eyes following him.

He exited the common room in a rush to research the mystery potion some more and knocked someone over nearly tripping over them in the process. He looked down to help the person up and saw that it was Hermione.

"Granger, what the hell are you doing in the dungeons?"

"I was waiting for you, of course," she smiled and helped herself off of the stone floor.

"What? Why were you waiting for me, and how do you know where the Slytherin common even is?"

"Oh, Harry has this map of Hogwarts that shows all of the places and all of the secret passage ways, too. Ha, I probably shouldn't have told you that," she smiled dreamily once again. Confused, he headed towards the library and she followed him like a lost puppy. She also joined him, uninvited, to a table near a window and followed him to the shelves and right back to the table once again.

"Whatcha studying?" she asked his as she rested her chin on her hands with her elbows on the table. She was leaned as far as she could go without raising her bottom off of her chair, and she was staring at him. For a moment, Draco stared back, his eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

"Why did you follow me here?" he asked, trying to figure out what that potion really did to her.

First, all she did she cock her head a little and smile a bit wider.

"I _really_ like you, Draco."

Five potion books were now stacked on the table in front of them, but he didn't need to lift a page. It had to have been a love potion that Hermione swallowed, and Draco had never felt his stomach drop as far as it did at this moment.

Hermione gladly helped him with his Charms essay while she sat with him, and finished her own once she had the heart to peel her eyes off of his face. They were in the library through dinner and didn't leave until well after the sun had set over the grounds. When they left, she walked him down to the dungeon and nearly followed him into the common room when Draco had to stop her.

"What are you doing?" he had his arm held out blocking her entry.

"Coming with you," she said as if it were a normal everyday occurrence, "you don't want to spend time with me?" her eyes filled with tears before Draco could realize that he had to play along with her insanity for now.

"No, I do, I'm just really tired and we have classes tomorrow morning. Er, meet me in by the lake around four o'clock tomorrow okay? We'll spend some time together then," Draco had no idea what he was going to do with Hermione in the middle of the day when his friends would probably be expecting to hang out with him, but he could find no other way out.

"Oh, okay. Well, goodnight Draco," she then hugged him tightly, and all he could do was stand there awkwardly within her arms.

"Night," he said quietly as she walked away with an extra bounce in her step. He turned around and entered the common, thoroughly shaken up and with no idea what he was going to do about her.

The following morning, Draco went through his classes just as he did the day before, but one thing that changed. Instead of trying to see if Hermione was okay, he was trying to avoid her as much as possible and he was forever hopeful that his friends would never find out about the potion she had taken by accident. He struggled to keep a calm façade around them while trying to think of ways to fix it.

After lunch, he went to History of Magic and regretfully glanced at the clock. It was 3:45, and he would soon have to endure sitting by the lake with Hermione much too soon. He got lucky when his cronies decided to make their way down to the common room to do homework. Draco walked down to the shore of the lake constantly checking over his shoulder to see if anyone was around, but to his relief, the grounds were completely deserted. Hermione was lounging beneath a nearby tree with an open book in her lap, and Draco walked up to her casually while trying to think of what to say.

"Hey," he took her attention off of the book and she was on her feet in a heartbeat. He half-smirked and didn't look directly into her eyes, "Listen, er, what do you think is going on betwee-"

Before he could finish his question, she had flung her arms around his neck and kissed him square on the mouth. Draco blinked from the sudden impact of her body, but his eyes popped back open when he realized what was happening. Hermione's body seemed to melt against his as her lips remained glued to his. Draco pushed her off as gently as he could and looked into her eyes as she gazed back at him with furrowed brow.

"What's wrong dear?" she asked him, backing away about an inch or two.

Draco couldn't remember what he was going to tell her, and was having trouble trying to explain why he had just denied her kiss.

"I…Uh, well, I don't really know how to explain it, you see," he stammered, fighting the urge to just tell her about the potion mix-up in class the previous day.

"Oh god! You don't want to be with me do you?" she backed away even further looking as though she had just heard that her whole family was dead.

"No, no that's not it. I just don't know what this is, you know, between us." He moved forward cautiously, trying to calm her down.

"Well…You're with me aren't you? Like a boyfriend?" Her chestnut brown eyes were pleading with his and until he could find a way to make her better, he saw no other option.

"If that's what you want, then yes," Draco felt defeated and she hugged him once again, nuzzling her head on his shoulder and sighing with content. "I think we should keep this quiet for the time being though, like our own little secret, okay? Don't tell your friends, I won't tell mine, and we'll set up times to meet up away from everybody else."

Hermione got off of his shoulder and, still embracing him, looked at his face with a smile.

"I'll do anything as long as I can be with you, Draco," she rested her head once more on his shoulder.

'I was afraid of that,' Draco thought to himself.

The week seemed to drag on as Draco was the busiest and most stressed out that he'd ever been at school, even more so than studying for last year's O.W.L.s. He was trying to juggle his classes, homework, friends, and his secret, unplanned relationship with Hermione. He was also exhausted; having to deal with these things took up most of his day, and trying to find the correct antidote for Hermione kept him up late most nights. There were a few pages of his Advanced Potion-Making book with the corners folded down, but he wanted to try as many as possible.

It was finally Friday night, and Draco was spending the evening with Hermione in a secluded corner of the library, flipping through as many potions books as the table could hold. A few of the antidotes he had already found were repeated in a few books, one only worked on males, and there was one fact that had greatly unsettled him. He was looking through one of the last few books when the page read: _Most love potions contain similar ingredients such as Ashwinder Eggs and Moonstone, which both enhance a potion as is stored for long periods of time, and the difference of love potions comes from the order in which one adds the ingredients as well as the amount one would put in. _

Draco reread this sentence over and over again until the only word that his mind was wrapped around was 'enhance'.

"Granger?"

"I'm your girlfriend, Draco, you really can call me by my first name," she said looking up from her essay.

"Sorry, er, Hermione… Do you know if love potions can strengthen over time?"

"Oh yes, and quite quickly, too," she said with her familiar tone intelligence, "why do you ask?"

"Oh, just curious is all," Draco felt numb, and he began shutting all of the books he had taken off of the shelves and got up to put them back. Once back at the table, he distractedly started on his Astronomy homework, and noticed that Hermione had stopped writing. Feeling her gaze burning the crown of his head, Draco waited for her to say something, but nothing came out. He looked up at her and she was resting her chin on her hands again, seeming to be completely content with staring at him.

"What?" Draco asked, trying not to sounds rude.

"Nothing, I just like looking at you; you're quite handsome you know."

This was going to take a lot of getting used to, and it was little compliments like these that made Draco so keen on finding an antidote as quickly as possible.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Singed Edges

Once Draco had finally escaped Hermione's obsessive gaze, and was back in his dormitory ready for bed, he decided to examine the insect found in his bag. He lay in bed holding the orange rock-like object close to his face to get a good look at the bug, and much to Draco's surprise, it moved. He shook his head and looked again at the now very still bug and considered it to be his tired mind playing tricks on him. Setting the insect on his bedside table, he turned over to fall asleep.

Draco was in the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts, though he can't remember actually walking there, and was looking among the crowd of students busying themselves within it.

"Bella!" he heard himself shout, but then realized it wasn't his own voice.

He started to hurry through the crowd toward a Slytherin girl who was chatting with a couple of friends.

"Hey," he said, finally standing next to her. The group's conversation came to a halt once he had arrived and she looked at him, eyebrows raised. Draco noticed that his palms were sweaty, and his knees had a consistency like that of jelly. He really liked this girl, who had crossed her arms.

"What?" she asked, as one of the girls behind her giggled and blushed.

"I, er, was wondering if, um, you'd want to go to Hogsmeade with me this Saturday?" he finished his question whilst gazing at the floor in embarrassment.

"I'm already going with my friends," she responded with a dismissive tone, turning to walk away with her friends in her wake, leaving Draco behind feeling depressed and very much rejected.

The sun was already high over the grounds when Draco woke up; the dream he had just had was now very blurry, quickly washing out of his memory. It was almost eleven and only Crabbe was left snoring in his bed. Once dressed, Draco glanced at the insect he had left on the table, and decided to put it in his pocket.

At breakfast, he sat with and Blaise and plated some food.

"You were talking in your sleep," Blaise said blurted out casually.

"What? What did I say?"

"You were just kind of moaning sadly at first, and I thought I heard to say Bulla or Beller a few times and some mumbling. What the hell were you dreaming of?"

"Well, I do remember a girl named Bella, and having sweaty palms, but that's really about it," Draco shrugged off the dream and noticed Hermione staring at him from across the hall. His eyes widened, and he mouthed 'stop it' at her, and she, though rather reluctantly, smirked and obeyed.

Blaise looked over his shoulder seeing nothing out of the ordinary, then back at Draco, concerned.

"Are you all right mate?"

"Yeah I'm fine," Draco needed to distract him, "So, Quidditch team. Are you going to try for Chaser again this year?"

"Well of course; stinks you aren't captain though, I was rather hoping that Snape would pick you after last year's disaster."

"No kidding."

They ate through the rest of breakfast in silence and decided to go back to the common room to do some homework before the laziness of Saturday could set into their bones. The first week back at school was always the hardest; it was exhausting to get back into the routine.

"I think someone is following us," Blaise said as they entered the dungeons.

"You go ahead, I'll take care of it," Draco said trying to mimic his usual demeanor.

Blaise stopped walking.

"Oh please Draco, I know why you walk around with Crabbe and Goyle behind you constantly: You can't fight. You're afraid."

Draco was about to give a nasty retort, but Hermione walked around the corner that Draco and Blaise had just rounded, looking hopeful. Blaise turned to see that it was her and seemed very confused.

"What are you doing down here Mudblood?"

Hermione stopped short, and looked from Draco and back to Blaise, her mouth moving, but no sound coming out. Draco stole a quick glance at Blaise, and saw that his hand was moving towards the pocket that his wand usually occupied.

"Get out of here, Granger," Draco spat, trying to sound as mean as possible and grabbed Blaise's elbow striding towards the Slytherin common room.

"What the hell did she follow us for?" Blaise said peering over his shoulder where Hermione stood rooted to the spot.

"No idea, mate," Draco said hurrying away from Hermione, keeping his eyes on the floor. They both grabbed their school bags from the dormitory and claimed a table in the common room to start working. After about thirty minutes of nothing but the sound of their quills scratching on parchment, Blaise seemed to be itching to say something and could no longer hold it in.

"Have you been talking to Granger?"

"What?" Draco was taken well off his guard by the question, and tried not to panic, "Why would I talk to her?"

"I don't know, but I've noticed her staring at you through almost every class, and you've been off 'by yourself' a lot lately."

"I've been in the library," Draco scowled at Blaise, trying to seem offended by the accusations.

"Which you never do, and Granger practically lives there."

"Are you trying to say you think I have a thing with—"

"Getting awfully defensive aren't you?" Blaise said crossing his arms in an annoyingly stubborn manner.

Draco sighed and set down his quill.

"Look, I've been in the library because my mum found something in the manor and I'm trying to figure out what it could be," Draco lied, taking the insect out of his pocket and setting it down on top of Blaise's homework.

Blaise looked at it with curiosity, seeming to be at least a bit distracted by it. He picked it up, and Draco noticed how Blaise's eyes flashed as he gazed upon it.

"It looks like a moth," Blaise said turning it over and over in his hand.

"It might be, but it seems like there's more to it. I feel like it could have powers, but I have no idea what," Draco said, speaking more to himself than to Blaise. After a few moments, he looked up to see Blaise still staring at it intently, "Blaise?"

"Huh? Sorry, zoned out," Blaise shook his head lightly and gave the insect back to Draco, very quickly, "I still think you're with Granger."

Draco glared at the top of Blaise's head, and decided to let it go for the time being. They worked quietly until Crabbe and Goyle arrived laughing to themselves about beating up a few second years, by the sound of it. Draco decided to close his books and relax for a while before lunch time.

Once in the Great Hall for the second time of the day, Draco noticed that Hermione was missing from the Gryffindor table. He also noticed that Blaise watched him closely as he searched for her and Draco felt a sinking feeling, knowing that he would have to tell him everything once they were alone again. Since he confided in Blaise about most things in his life he knew it wouldn't be that difficult, but the fact that Hermione was muggle-born was a worrying factor indeed.

Sitting in the Transfiguration courtyard alone with Blaise sometime later, Draco decided to spill the beans.

"There was a mix-up in Potions on the first day back," he explained what happened in class to Blaise who listened with a blank expression.

"So, you accidentally gave Granger an ancient love potion?"

"It seems to be that way. I don't know what to do about it yet, so I agreed to be 'with' her for now and hopefully once I figure out how to reverse it, I can modify her memory and move on as if nothing happened."

"Blimey, no wonder she was following you earlier. Actually, she's over there," Blaise pointed to a bench across the courtyard, and sure enough, there was Hermione. She wasn't looking at him obsessively, but instead seemed upset.

"Bloody hell, I think she's sad from how I acted towards her earlier," he said to Blaise.

"Well, you'd better go fix your relationship before she breaks up with you," Blaise mocked before Draco walked towards the Transfiguration classroom just off the hallway surrounding the yard.

Draco nodded his head towards the classroom, and walked into it quickly, being careful so he wouldn't be seen by other students, and was relieved that nobody was inside. Hermione walked in shortly after and looked at him, pouting slightly. Draco noticed that her eyes were red and watery.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

She slapped him straight across the face. Draco then remembered all too well just how hard she could hit. He looked at her with his mouth open. Hermione was fuming with her arms crossed, and her jaw clenched with anger as she watched Draco regain his composure.

"Listen, Blaise was with me and he didn't know about us until about two minutes ago. I told you we had to meet in secret, what were you doing following me?"

She looked away and up at the ceiling in an attempt to hold back her tears, but one got away and slid down her face. Draco made to wipe it off, but she jerked her face away from his hand.

"Do I embarrass you?" she asked quite bluntly.

"No, not at all," Draco pleaded trying to move within her view, "you know it could be dangerous if people find out about this."

"So? What are you so afraid of?" she rounded on Draco, now staring directly at him.

"I don't want you to get hurt just for liking me," he replied, surprised to realize that it was the truth. As much as Draco has hated her since the start of school, he still cared for her well-being. Silent tears rolled down Hermione's face as a small smile spread across it. Draco's arms seemed to possess themselves as he pulled Hermione into a hug. She sank into his chest seemingly content and Draco just held her, his thoughts whirling around the fact that he actually cared. He loosened his hug and she looked up at him, her eyes still drowning in leftover tears. Draco wiped the wetness from under her eyes and smirked a little before placing his hands back on her waist. She smiled and repositioned her arms to rest around his neck.

Before he knew what was happening, Draco felt her hands fingering the hair nearest his neck gently. It sent a shiver all down his body and their gazes connected for a moment. Hermione then pulled his neck down slightly to kiss him a second time. This time Draco kept his eyes closed and kissed her back; they kissed again, and Draco's tongue found her lips, trying to part them, and she obliged. Draco couldn't tell how long they had snogged, or how long her fingers danced in the back of his hair; It could have been hours with how tense and dizzy Draco felt at the end of it.

For almost half a minute, they both stood there breathing a little heavily before Hermione just smiled at him and walked away. Draco sat himself down on a nearby desk and tried to calm himself down, and much to his surprise, Blaise's head popped through the open door.

"What happened? Ooh, you look flushed," Blaise gave a devilish smirk as Draco gave him a threatening look, and got up to join him at the door. They walked to the grounds discussing what had happened, Blaise made suggestive comments every few minutes, much to Draco's annoyance. They were at the Black Lake and Draco slipped his hands into his empty pockets.

"Oh no," Draco eyed the grass around his feet, searching.

"What? Forget to throw out the condom?" Blaise laughed.

"Shut the hell up Blaise! That moth thing is gone, there's a hole in my pocket! What the hell!" Draco turned is pocket out so see a hole with singe marks around the edges; it was still warm.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Jealousy and Secret Passages

"What to do mean it's still warm?" Blaise followed Draco as he retraced their steps back to the Transfiguration classroom.

"It looks like it was burned. I don't know how, but the edges are singed," Draco was confused beyond belief.

They opened the door to the classroom once again, which was still deserted. They both searched the floor, but found no evidence of the moth; Draco cursed and kicked a desk with anger.

"Whoa, calm down, you don't even know what that thing is!" Blaise scowled at him, "Maybe someone came in after you left and picked it up."

Then Draco felt it, "No. it's here," almost like something was silently calling his name. He moved to one of the counters on the side of the room that held cages of various animals. He knelt down and looked under the small ridge that the cabinets made and found it there. Draco swore he saw the moth's wings fluttering, and felt a little more worried than the first time it had happened, but didn't say anything and held it up for Blaise to see.

"How did you know it was there?" Blaise seemed a little scared.

"I don't know, I just knew."

"That makes absolutely no sense at all, and you're freaking me out. You should have that thing looked at by someone,"

"Let's just go to the library and see if we can figure out what that is," Draco said with a surge of energy as he slipped the moth into his hole-less pocket.

"Wow, Granger really is rubbing you off-I mean rubbing off on you."

"You're an arse," Draco said, leading the way to the library.

Two hours they sat in the library researching magical beetles, butterflies, moths, aphids, worms, and caterpillars, but nothing was even remotely close to what lie in Draco's pocket. Frustrated, they headed down to the Great Hall once more; it seemed as if they had been pacing the castle all day. During their meal, even Blaise had glanced over his shoulder to get a peek at Hermione. Crabbe and Goyle were always too involved with their food to notice anything strange. Pansy, however, kept looking at Draco then at Blaise and back again suspiciously.

Pansy always fancied Draco, and wasn't afraid to show it to everyone around her. Every meal they attended together, she was at his elbow, and in the common room she often tried to cuddle on the couch with him. Draco only saw her as a friend, and wasn't remotely interested, but he was still afraid that the truth would hurt her; or even worse, that she would be so upset that she'd run to his parents and snitch on him. Draco trusted Blaise with his life as well as his secrets. They were best friends, even if Blaise was often snide.

The common room was full of students enjoying their first weekend of the term, and Draco sat with his friends by the fire, reading his History of Magic book and trying not to doze off due to its mundane quality. Blaise and Crabbe decided to play chess and Goyle watched them. Pansy, however, scooted closer to Draco on the black leather couch and leaned into his side.

"Pansy, what are you doing?" he wanted her to take the hint, but his attempt was in vain.

"Cuddling with you, of course. When are we going to go out Draco?" she asked sweetly.

"We're not. Pansy, you're like a sister to me."

"I am not! We have so much chemistry and you know it!" she slapped his chest playfully.

"No, we don't. Please, Pansy, I don't want to hurt you by giving you false hope, so I'm going to say this once. No. It's not going to happen, and I'm sorry," Draco stood up and made his way to the dorm leaving Pansy quite shocked.

He just couldn't understand it. He felt like a woman magnet with both Hermione and Pansy fawning over him constantly. Draco always thought it would be great to be in the spotlight, surrounded by girls, adored by everyone, but the fantasy slipped away very quickly now that he knew he could barely handle a mere two girls obsessing over him.

He emptied his pockets, stripped, and climbed into bed prematurely; he wasn't even tired. He had the moth in his hand and he stared at it, hoping to not see it move. As he stared, his thoughts strayed back to when he saw the wings flutter in the classroom, and before he could bring his mind to a halt, Hermione's kiss was replaying in his head. For all it was worth, it was a great snog, Draco couldn't deny that. His mind still wrapped around the vision of Hermione, he returned his gaze to the moth, whose wings were twitching. Then they started to flutter faster and faster until they appeared blurry. Draco heard a slight whistling noise coming from the moth, and held it closer to his ear.

The rock-material touched a space of skin next to his ear, vibrating slightly, and Draco was suddenly walking down a winding, cobblestone road in the countryside. He walked up to the gate of a Victorian three story house; a few lights were illuminated within the two visible rooms upon the second floor and Draco snuck over the gate, striding across the lawn to the window on the left side. He grabbed some pebbles from the garden that was spread at his feet and tossed one. It made a ticking sound against the glass of the window. He waited a minute or two, and tossed another.

It only took about thirty seconds for the occupant of the room to open the window and peer out of it. It was that same girl, Bella, who had rejected him, and she scowled at the sight of him.

"Go away! Don't make me hex you!" she said in a harsh whisper.

"Please! I just want to talk to you," he pleaded, trying to keep quiet.

"I don't like you. Why don't you get that? Get out of here, now!" she slammed the window shut, and Draco once again felt a strong sense of rejection and anger.

He woke up with his covers kicked onto the floor and looked around to see that everyone was still sleeping. It was close to 8 A.M., and the sun was hidden behind dreary, grey clouds. Draco let his feet hang over the edge of his bed, and saw the moth on the floor; he must have fallen asleep while holding onto it.

The face of the girl from his dream prevented him from sleeping any more. She was a beautiful girl, and whomever it was trying to get with her did not seem willing to give up. Draco didn't know who these people were or why he was dreaming about them, but then he thought it could be his own conscience playing its own version of his relationship with Hermione. Of course, it didn't make much sense, but it's all he could come up with on his own.

Draco finished the remainder of his homework in the common room alone. Shortly after finishing Pansy came down from the girls' dorm, walked right past him, and exited into the hallway.

"You must have really pissed her off, mate," Blaise said as he entered.

"Well, she needed the truth, and I presented it to her. If she can't handle it, it's her problem," Draco shrugged, looked over at Blaise, and noticed that he was holding the moth Draco had left on his own bedside table, "What are you doing with that?"

Draco made to grab for it, but Blaise dodged his reach and stood up.

"I'm just looking at it! Maybe you should ask Granger about it, she's a bookworm, I'm sure she'll know at least where to look, yeah?"

Draco raised his eyebrows, amazed that he didn't think about it before. Blaise's eyes were flashing once again while staring at the moth and Draco wondered if his own eyes flashed the same way. Maybe it was just a trick of the light playing off of the amber color of the rock.

In the late afternoon, Draco found Hermione studying in the library with Harry and Ron. He sat at a table within her range of vision to see if he could catch her attention, succeeding within minutes. She was glancing up every few seconds while Harry and Ron, their backs to Draco, looked at each other, clearly confused. They both turned around and Draco quickly began to dig around in his bag, making it seem that he was there for homework.

Close to an hour had passed when Harry and Ron finally left Hermione alone at the table. She watched them closely as they left the library and turned a corner. She peered around the library for any other Gryffindors, but finding none, she made her way over to Draco's table with haste. She dropped her books onto the table top and grabbed either side of his face to kiss him hungrily. He broke the kiss and whipped his head around in a panic.

"I told you, we need to keep this under wraps, you can't just kiss me in the middle of the library!"

"I'm sorry, but I just can't help it, I never want to stop kissing you," she said shaking her head, surprised with her own words, "It's crazy, I've never felt like this before," she seemed thrilled about it.

"Well, good, but we really need to keep things quiet for now," Draco said, anxious to change the subject to the moth, "Listen, I need your help with something," He took the moth out of his pocket and placed it on the table, "Do you know what this is? I've been trying to figure it out, but I can't find anything on it."

Hermione was scowling at it and made to pick it up off of the table, but dropped it immediately and looked at her fingers.

"Ow! Why it is so hot?"

Draco picked it up and felt no heat, "It's not hot."

"Yes it was, look!" She showed Draco her fingertips which were now shiny and red.

Draco looked at the moth in his hand; it wasn't hot at all to his touch, but on the contrary felt rather cold.

"What is that thing?" Hermione said staring at the moth like it would attack her at any moment.

"I don't know, I was hoping you could tell me," he held it out a little further, and Hermione leaned away.

"Keep that thing away from me," her voice was shaky.

Draco looked at the moth and noticed red markings on the wings, not sure if they had been there before. It was curious, however, that he didn't notice it until now.

"Where did you get that?" she asked, easing up a little bit.

"My mum found it in the manor before I left for school. I don't know what it is exactly, but it's starting to freak me out," he said, setting it on the table once more.

"Well," Hermione sighed, "It's definitely not a magical insect, but it is a moth, though I'm not sure what species. I can have my parents send me an insect book from home."

Draco was grateful for how serious she was taking his request, but the way she reacted to touching the moth was very alarming. He wondered what substance that incased an insect would burn her, but not him or Blaise.

Hermione finished her homework while Draco searched more books about insects, and both were shooed out my Madam Pince around 9 P.M. Whilst walking past a tapestry, Hermione suddenly grabbed Draco's wrist and pulled him behind it. It was a small hallway that Draco had never known was there.

"One of the secret passage ways, not many people know it's here," she said taking off her robe.

"What are you doing?" Draco started to get nervous.

Hermione giggled, and moved towards him, pushing his bag off of his shoulder, and pinning him to the wall with her body. She loosened the tie of his usual black-on-black suit and started unbuttoning his shirt. Draco was frozen; nothing like this had ever happened to him before, and he wasn't sure if he should put his hands on her or let them hang by his sides.

Once the first three buttons were undone, Hermione pushed herself onto her tiptoes and began to kiss Draco's collarbone. He sighed and rested his head against the wall, and never before had he thought a simple kiss could feel this tantalizing. His hands moved on their own accord, and placed themselves onto her hips for a moment of two before gliding to her bottom.

Hermione was still kissing his neck, her hands rested on his chest, massaging slightly. Draco's hands moved up and down her sides and he pushed her head to over with his own, now kissing her neck. Then, his conscience began to argue. This was the girl, the Mudblood, that he'd hated since he was eleven, and here he was feeling her up in a secret passage. His mind was fighting with his body, but Draco couldn't help but succumb to the latter.

Both of them now lightly panting, Draco flipped around so he was now the one pinning her to the wall. He began to snog her deeply as her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. His hands found her bottom once again and squeezed; he was getting excited and knew she'd be able to feel it soon. Draco let her go, and freed himself from the grip she had on his neck.

"What's wrong?" she asked still breathing heavily.

"Nothing, I just…Don't you think we're moving fast?" it's all he could come up with.

She looked down at the floor and laughed, "I suppose we are, huh?"

Draco was relieved and buttoned the top of his shirt back up and re-tightened his tie. Hermione grabbed her robe off of the floor and swung it back around herself. Draco walked with her until their paths had to diverge. He looked around before giving her another kiss and heading back to his common room.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - Faint

The start of the week proved to be nothing special. Draco went through his classes without having any alone time with Hermione, and he also didn't have time to research the moth any further. He had told Blaise that it seemed to burn Hermione when she touched it, and he showed the same confusion that Draco had experienced when it happened.

It was Tuesday evening and the two of them were in the Slytherin common room finishing up their batch of homework as Pansy glared at Draco from across the room.

"Has she only recently started fancying me, or was I just that oblivious?" Draco asked Blaise as quietly as he could.

"I dunno, mate. I mean, she's always been glued to your side, but I didn't think she'd ever feel hurt by a simple 'no'," Blaise said as he rolled up his finished Charms essay.

"Well she needs to get over it because it wasn't going to happen anyways," Draco said.

The packed up their belongings and headed up to the dormitory for bed where Draco found himself staring at the moth. This was now part of his nighttime routine: Homework, shower, stare at the moth, and fall asleep. Draco kept it in his dorm lately, though; for it had burned through yet another one of his trouser pockets on Sunday night, causing him to nearly lose it again. During most days it was stored safely in the drawer of Draco's bedside table, and was only disturbed at night.

Classes were the same, boring thing on Wednesday and it wasn't until after lunch time that Draco's day had lightened sufficiently. Hermione had waved him into the broom cupboard off of the Entrance Hall, and shut the door, kissing him as soon as she turned to face him.

"You're getting better at hiding this," he said once his lips were no longer preoccupied.

"Thanks, but I didn't just bring you in here for a kiss. My parents sent me the insect book I asked for; I got it during breakfast this morning. Now, I don't think I can touch that thing with my bare hands, so could you possibly put it in a container and I can research it?"

"Why can't you just give me the book?" Draco asked.

"Well, I'll have more free time of course. Don't you have Quidditch tryouts tomorrow?"

"Blimey! I forgot!" Draco smacked his hand to his forehead. "Okay, I'll put it in something for you, and you can meet me in that tapestry passage way around ten tonight and I'll give it to you then, yeah?"

"That sounds good to me. When is your next class?"

"I don't have Astronomy until eleven tonight."

"Good," Hermione said before snogging him.

They were entwined within the broom cupboard for at least twenty minutes, and it was almost just as heated as their fun in the secret passage behind the tapestry. Once they had caught track of time again, Hermione peeked her flushed face out of the door to see if anyone was there so she could escape to her Ancient Runes lesson, but as soon as she'd poked her head out the door, she jumped back in and slammed it shut once more.

"What?" Draco whispered.

"Ron and Harry…I think they just saw me," she was clutched her chest trying to keep her heart from beating too loudly.

"What should we do?" Draco started to panic. What would happen if their secret relationship was known?

They waited in silence, ears pressed against the wood of the door listening for voices or footsteps. After five minutes of hearing nothing but their own nervous breathing, Hermione opened the door again to see the Entrance Hall deserted.

"I'll meet you tonight," she said before hurrying off to her class.

Draco stepped out as well and leaned against the wall just to the right of the closet, trying to calm his nerves. He made his way back to the dorm to drop off his bag, and automatically snatched the moth from the drawer he kept it in. He met Blaise near the lake shore shortly after and sat in the grass. Blaise was doing additional homework and it seemed Draco was merely there for quiet company. It was a sunny day, and Draco peered over the lake to the distant shore, contemplating. Hermione wasn't so bad now that he had actually spent some time with her.

On the other hand, she wasn't herself, and wouldn't have given Draco the time of day if it weren't for that potion. Even though their relationship was forced, he was actually having fun with it. The late nights in the library and secret kisses in passages and closets were enjoyable to say the least. The forbidden nature of it made it even more exciting, and whenever Draco had passed Ron and Harry in the corridors, he couldn't stop the smug smirk from spreading across his face. Knowing something they didn't about someone they thought they knew so well was extremely satisfying.

Blaise shut his book with a loud thump and shoved his school supplies back into his bag before mirroring Draco. They simply looked at the lake for a minute or two, relaxing, when Blaise caught Draco off guard.

"You have the moth with you."

"Was that a question?" Draco looked at him.

"No. I can tell when you're carrying it; your demeanor seems harsh."

"What do you mean my demeanor?" Draco sneered.

"See? You get defensive, and you seem a lot more arrogant as well."

"Whatever, Blaise," Draco brushed off Blaise's accusations.

"I don't think that thing is good for you, mate," Blaise's voice held a tone of genuine concern.

"You don't know any more about it than I do, so just drop it!" Draco retorted with authority.

There was a moment's silence when they looked at each other uncomfortably. Draco could feel himself scowling, his jaw was clenched, and his nose stuck in the air a little higher than usual. Blaise seemed to be trying to say something, working out how to say it correctly.

"I can hear it in the middle of the night sometimes. It whistles quietly, and I think it could potentially be dangerous," Blaise's brow was furrowed, trying to make sense of what he was saying, "I think it's a really dark artifact, and if it was found in your house, it could possibly be too old to even figure out what it is. We need to find an answer soon because it's making me very uneasy."

"Hermione just got a book from her parents this morning. It's an insect book, and I'm hoping she can find something at least a little helpful in there," Draco said in complete understanding with Blaise; Draco often heard the moth whistling within his bedside table in the middle of the night as well. As much as the moth unsettled his nerves, he didn't feel like he could part with it. Draco felt almost proud of having such a unique object in his possession.

Draco spent most of the afternoon finishing essays and reading his class books, and was almost late to meet Hermione. He had to hurry up to his dorm to find a small container, and rummaged through his potions supplies. Finally he found a small glass jar with a lid that only had a few porcupine quills left inside. He dumped them out and replaced them with the moth, which he then shoved into the pocket of his robes before setting off to the hidden passage.

He found Hermione already there waiting for him. Slightly out of breath, he took the jar out of his pocket and handed it to her. She took it and faced him, a slight look of foreboding in her expression.

"Ron and Harry did see me earlier today. They wanted to know who I was with."

"You didn't tell them, did you?" Draco's mouth went dry.

"I didn't say anything actually. I was on my way out of the common room when they asked and I just gave them a look and left for class."

"You know they'll ask again," Draco said, struggling to come up with an excuse for her, "Can't you just say you're with someone else or that you were alone?"

"Why would I have to hide if it was something I could openly tell them?"

"True," Draco sighed, "What will you tell them?"

"I don't know."

"Try to come up with something that they'll believe, okay?"

"I'll try, but I don't really see how we're going to keep this secret much longer. I mean, you already told Blaise."

"The only reason I told him was because he already suspected it after you followed me into the dungeons, remember? I pulled him away because he was going to hex you, and if I hadn't insulted you, it would've given everything away right then and there. Granted, I had to tell him anyway, but you get my point. I tried to keep it hidden, but Blaise is smart; he knows me too well."

"He's a good friend, not chastising you for it. I have no idea how Ron and Harry would react. 'By the way, I'm going out with our supposed enemy.' I think they'd assume you've poisoned me or something." Hermione said with a small laugh.

Draco felt his stomach drop a few inches, but just smiled to cover up his guilt.

"Well, I'll let you get to Astronomy, Draco," she said, finally pocketing the moth and turning around.

"No kiss this time?" Draco was confused.

"I didn't think you'd want to. I mean, we snogged earlier and you told me the other night that you wanted to slow things down."

"Well, the night we were here was just escalating really quickly, and you usually always want to kiss me."

"Yes, I do, but I'm just not sure you feel the same," she added sadly before walking out of the passage.

Hermione's statement rooted Draco to the floor, shocked that she could even see through her clouded obsession with him. He knew then that he would have to step his game up and really commit to the role of 'boyfriend', which he has never played before. Or he could tell her the truth; having the brightest witch in the school helping with find a remedy was very tempting.

Astronomy was useless: everything explained during class went in one ear and right out the other. Draco was too concerned about Ron and Harry finding out as well as the fact that he'd upset Hermione to focus on anything. Once in his bed, it seemed more comfortable and peaceful than it had been since arriving at Hogwarts. Maybe the moth really did have an effect on him.

Breakfast tasted a lot better on Thursday, seeing as Draco had a satisfyingly restful night of sleep. His first lesson whizzed by, and Herbology was right before lunchtime, but when Draco and his cronies arrived at the greenhouses, he spotted something odd. Hermione was missing from the Gryffindor table. Harry and Ron seemed to be as calm as ever, and went about their class work, Draco was distracted throughout the whole lesson, and when it was finally over, he walked directly behind Harry and Ron to listen for anything concerning Hermione.

Trying to act as casual as possible, he followed the two Gryffindors up to the Great Hall for lunch. Not hearing a word from either of them about Hermione, Draco led his fellow Slytherins to their own table. He couldn't help but glance over at the door every few minutes, hoping to see Hermione walk in, but she never did.

Draco very well couldn't have asked Harry and Ron, nor could he ask if his own friends had seen her recently. Once alone with Blaise, Draco looked around for eavesdroppers and asked him about it.

"Yeah, I noticed she wasn't around, but I don't think it's anything you should worry about. Maybe she's just sick or something," Blaise answered casually before stalking off to do homework.

Draco decided to use his free lesson to check the hospital wing, having taken Blaise's assumption to heart. He opened the door to the ward, and peeked in, and saw her on the only occupied bed. Luckily, none of her friends were visiting at the moment and Draco walked over to her bed with caution.

"Hey," he whispered.

Hermione turned her head, and he saw that she was very pale.

"Hi," she said weakly, "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't see you in class, and I got worried."

"Aww, you're sweet," Hermione seemed dazed, and Draco immediately thought of the moth.

"What happened?" he pulled a chair close to her bed and sat.

"I don't know really; I was studying that moth, and I started to feel dizzy. Then, I woke up here just a few hours ago."

"Did Madam Pomfrey tell you what happened?"

"I guess I was just faint, probably from not eating much or something. I'll be out of here tonight," Hermione smiled at him dreamily, and held out her hand wanting it to be held. Draco obliged and grabbed hold.

"Did you find anything in the book?"

"Yes actually. It's definitely a moth, but after what happened I can't remember the details," she sighed, "Can I have a kiss?"

He kissed her just as the door to the infirmary opened. He whipped his head around to find Harry and Ginny standing in the doorway with their eyes popped out of their skulls and their jaws practically to the floor.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Paranoia

Upon Harry and Ginny's arrival, Draco immediately straightened up and quickly pulled his hand away from Hermione's.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Harry raised his voice as he walked closer to Hermione's bed, Ginny trailing him, her face still full of shock.

"It's nothing Harry, really, please calm down."

"Calm down! Malfoy was just kissing you, how could I possibly calm down?"

Harry's shouting caused Madam Pomfrey to scuttle out of her office to tell them to shush. Once she had retreated once more, Harry rounded on Hermione.

"Hermione, what is this?" he pointed to Draco.

Hermione gave a heavy sigh and Draco could see the tears welling in her eyes, and she spoke with a nervous voice.

"We were trying to keep it a secret, okay? We've been dating since the beginning of term, and we didn't want to tell anybody because we knew we'd get this reaction."

"How could we not react, Hermione, he's our enemy," Harry said while glancing for backup from Ginny, who stayed silent.

"Who cares, Harry? He's my boyfriend, and if you can't handle that, then you need to figure out how true a friend you really are," Hermione's face was streaked with tears now and Draco could see the guilt within Harry's expression.

"How did this happen though?" Ginny finally spoke up.

There was a long pause whilst Draco stared at the floor, but Hermione finally admitted her induced feelings, though she thought they were genuine, and explained that they had been spending time with each other away from everyone else.

"Sorry you had to find out this way," Draco stated as he stood up, "I should go, I have class soon."

He kissed Hermione's forehead just to make his boyfriend role seem a bit more real in front of her friends before turning to leave. He was already at the door when he turned back round.

"Please don't tell Weasley."

Ginny glared at him.

"Sorry, but he'd have my head on a plate if he found out, he seems touchy about Hermione."

Saying Hermione's first name before leaving the ward made Draco feel like the act was convincing though his hands were still shaking from the moment they were interrupted. He couldn't believe he was actually careless enough to kiss Hermione in the hospital wing when her friends could have easily walked in at any moment. Draco knew that there could not and would not be any more chances of being caught. Strictly private meetings only: not in the library, not in the hospital wing, not even in their secret passage. If Hermione knew it was there, surely Harry and Ron would know about it and use it as well.

Defense against the Dark Arts proved most boring, and Draco was glad for his classes of the day to be over when the bell rang. He sat with Blaise at dinner as usual, and Theodore Nott, the new Quidditch captain sat across from them.

"Listen, I know I have to make an official list of who's on the team, but you two should know you're playing the same positions you did last year, okay?"

Draco was taken aback at the randomness of these words, but thanked him nonetheless. Their tryouts on Tuesday went as well as they could have gone, and Draco recalled spotting Hermione in the stands, watching him fly around. Draco admitted to himself that he had totally forgotten about Quidditch since the tryouts, being too distracted with the moth and Hermione, and regretfully also had Ron and Harry to fret about now as well.

Hermione arrived to dinner late, flanked by Harry and Ron, who had apparently joined his friends and sister after Draco had left. He noticed that Harry's gaze kept falling on him all throughout dinner, and Draco stared him down every time their eyes met, challenging him.

Friday turned out to be an irritating day in general: First, Divination proved itself to be a completely useless class now that it was no longer required. The heat and smell of the classroom alone made Draco swear to himself that he would talk to Professor Snape and drop it off of his schedule that very afternoon.

Already crabby from the stuffiness of the Divination tower, Draco sat through lunch with Harry Potter's eyes burning into him once again. History of Magic bored him nearly to death, and by the time it was over, all he wanted to do was have kip beneath a tree on the grounds, where the autumn breeze could cool him down.

He walked into the entrance courtyard with Blaise to find the sky heavily shielded with slate coloured clouds. It seemed that just as they stepped outside the raindrops fell slowly at first, and picked up steadily until the boys were forced to take cover in the castle, completely disappointed.

Draco's dampened mood made it hard for him concentrate on homework in the library that evening, and the fact that Hermione was also there with the other Gryffindors caused even further distraction.

He tried fervently to pummel through the week's homework, even with everything around him pulling his mind away from the textbooks. Finally the Gryffindors left, including Hermione to leave Draco as the only student left in the library. The silence was eerie, and Draco's eyes danced around the empty tables, while the whistling noise that the moth had often made at night was ringing in is ear. The library door opened with a clunk snapping the ringing from his ears. Much to his surprise, Hermione had walked back into the library, and took a seat at his otherwise unshared table; Draco set down his quill.

"I thought you'd just left?"

"I told Harry and Ron that I forgot about an essay I wanted to do in advance, and I needed to come back for a book. Harry saw straight through it seeing that you were here, but Ron shrugged it off. He still doesn't know, but Harry won't even talk to me now." Her tone was full of remorse.

"It's not your fault, they were bound to find out eventually," he said, automatically covering her hand with his, gently stroking her thumb, "and they're complete idiots if they disown you for this."

"Anyways, I came back because I found out what this is," she changed the subject while extracting the moth from her pocket with her free hand. He released her hand to allow her to grab the insect book out of her bag, and when she did, she flipped to a page with the corner folded down and started reading.

"The Abraxas Sylvata is known to have discernable white wings with brown patches," she skimmed through the obviously irrelevant details, "They are attracted to light. . . It is nocturnal and easy to find resting during the early hours of the morning. . . They become active around dusk. Funny thing is that this says they're more common is Eastern Asia than in Europe. Does any of this help at all?"

"What is it called again?" Draco was staring at the moth that was sitting in the jar upon the table.

"Abraxas Sylvata," Hermione glanced at the book once again to make sure she said it correctly.

The name was swirling through his mind. Why would an artifact found within the manor that had been occupied through generations of Malfoys contain a moth that held the same name as his grandfather? It was puzzling, but Draco couldn't think of any reason for the moth to be connected other than the shared name.

"Doesn't help us with why it burned you or why it moves," Draco sighed.

"It moves?" Hermione asked nervously, eyeing the moth still in its container.

"Yeah, at least I think it does. I'll be looking at it, and the wings will flutter. I don't know, maybe it's a trick of the light or something." He was trying not to make her worry.

"It scares me. I don't know what kind of magic it has in it, but it's not very pleasant. I think you should just get rid of it."

"No," Draco was surprised at how quickly he was against ridding himself of the moth, "I just think we should figure out what it is, I mean, what if it fell into the wrong hands? It could be dangerous."

"You may be right, Draco."

"You should go, I bet your friends are worried, especially Potter."

"Yeah," she gathered her things, quickly grabbed a book off of the shelf next to her, and kissed Draco on the cheek before exiting.

Living in secrecy was getting to Draco as the days went on, and even Blaise seemed to notice. It wasn't until they were alone on Saturday when the whole group of Slytherins were relaxing together on the grounds.

"Maybe you should just tell her; it would make things easier for everyone," Blaise whispered to Draco so nobody would overhear.

"You don't get it, Blaise, whatever she drank could possibly be illegal. If it gets out that I gave her the wrong potion her friends could warp the truth and put me in prison with my father."

"How would they find out if you only tell her? You really don't trust a girl who's 'in love' with you?" Blaise argued.

"I don't think she would tell them, but Weasel has always had the hots for her. He might force the truth out at some point if she isn't paying enough attention to him or something."

"What are you guys talking about?" Pansy interjected as she joined them on the grass.

"Nothing," Blaise said calmly. He struck up a conversation with her as Draco's mind floated away. The ringing of the moth was in his ears once again, and he found himself remembering his dream about the girl in the window and was imagining the house, seeing the details as clearly as if he were sleeping once more.

This time however, Draco's mind presented the house in a darker mood. He was angry and was looking once more at the window belonging to the girl. A light flipped on to his right and Draco twitched and looked around for a quick place to hide, but calmed down when he saw a familiar face. The girl who had rejected him had a younger sister who now poked her head out of her bedroom window.

"What are you doing here? It's nearly midnight," she whispered down to him.

Draco had to be quick on his feet. If she knew his real intentions, she would either tell her sister or maybe even worse, their father.

"I came to see you, of course," he whispered, walking closer to her window.

"Don't joke with me, I know you're practically in love with my sister," she said sadly.

Now seeing the girl's face from a closer distance, he would judge that she was about fifteen or sixteen years old.

"No, I don't. I only asked her out because I didn't think I'd have a chance with you. She was going to be my way to get closer to you," he said with a mask or sincerity.

It worked, and the girl was flattered, but she still seemed skeptical.

"Why couldn't you tell me before now? Why in the middle of the night?"

"I've been sitting out here all day trying to pluck up the courage to come to the door, but I couldn't do it. I'm sorry it's taken so long, but please go out with me," if he knew her as much as he thought, his plan would work.

Unfortunately, Draco never heard her answer; a hand whipped across his face and shook him from the false reality. Blaise, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle were all kneeling in the grass around him, and it was clearly Blaise's hand that had struck him.

"What happened?"

"We thought you'd passed out, but you were mumbling. We shook you and tried to get your attention, but you wouldn't stop," Pansy seemed scared, her voice ringing an octave higher than usual.

"I'm fine, I must've just drifted off for a few," Draco sat up trying to show that he wasn't scared, even though he knew he hadn't really fallen asleep.

The whole group seemed to glance over at him constantly throughout the rest of the day, possibly just as confused as he was about the episode. Though it freaked him out, he wanted it to happen again so he could figure out what would happen. It was like watching a play in short spread out pieces and Draco watched it through the main character's point of view.

Shortly after dinner, Draco decided to meet with Snape and drop Divination. With the moth in his pocket he felt paranoid, and was glancing over his shoulder every few minutes to check that nobody was there, but he only ever saw the deserted corridors he'd left behind him.

Snape's office seemed like a safe house and after dropping Divination from his schedule, he decided to show Snape the moth. Draco set it down on the table between the two of them, and the potions master simply stared at it, intrigued.

"Is it dangerous, Professor?" Draco finally asked, breaking the intense silence

"Where did you get this?" Snape asked slowly.

"My mum found it in the manor."

"Interesting artifact, however, you shouldn't carry it around. I suggest you keep it hidden for the time being."

"So you know what it is?"

"No idea, but I'm sure you can feel the magic that radiates from it as well as I."

"Yeah," Draco was tempted to tell Snape about his dreams, but felt as if he had already worn out his welcome, "Thank you professor."

Draco was walking deeper into the dungeons, and was in a particularly dark corridor when a shuffling noise behind him made him whip around, wand at the ready. Instead of finding nothing like he had all night someone punched his square in the jaw knocking him to the stone floor, spots of light bursting behind his eyelids.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – Acceptance

Draco came to and found an unfamiliar, livid face staring down at him. This man was tall and brooding with a head of dark hair and a bearded face. He was panting as if he'd chased Draco down just to hit him, and he had a very tight grip on his wand. He moved closer, and Draco scooted away, trying to ignore the dizziness from being hit.

"Who are you?" Draco asked.

"You know who I am," the man replied with a deep, growling snarl, but his voice seemed muffled as though Draco's ears had been filled with cotton.

"I've never seen you before in my life," Draco was still scooting away on the floor, trying to get on his feet without taking his eyes off of the stranger.

"Are you crazy?" The man's voice suddenly changed and when Draco blinked, Ron Weasley was standing in front of him instead. Draco was at a loss for words, his eyes frantically dancing around the corridor for the man that was there only seconds before. He got to his feet unsteadily before making eye contact with Ron.

"There was man here. He hit me," Draco was angry with himself for confiding what he thought he saw in one of his enemies, but maybe Ron had seen where the man went.

"I hit you," Ron replied, "You really are loony aren't you?"

Draco stumbled over his explanation, but Ron just scowled and turned to walk away. Draco was breathing heavily, panicked, and his jaw was throbbing. He brought his hand up to the left side of his face and he heard Ron shout from the end of the hall:

"And stay the hell away from Hermione!" The door slammed behind him, and there was an unnerving silence.

Draco hurried back to the common room as quickly as he could, ran straight through and up to the dorms to shut and lock the moth away for what he hoped would be until he knew exactly what it was. Once the moth, along with Draco's paranoia, was shut away in his bedside table, he realized the most horrifying part of his encounter. Ron knew.

Sunday was full of homework, some sulking, and the first Quidditch practice for the Slytherins. The weather was starting to cool down and Draco's fingers were numb as he changed out of his Quidditch robes in the locker room. The team's practice went well and both Draco and Blaise had agreed that it was the best group of people for the Slytherin team since they'd started at Hogwarts.

They lazed around the rest of the day, feeling exhausted and windblown as the rest of their classmates enjoyed the end of the weekend. Draco was unusually quiet and noticed that his cronies were starting to get bored with his lack of interest. Since it was usually Draco's call on what they did and who they teased, they seemed lost now that Draco was not even remotely interested in bullying.

Crabbe and Goyle decided to go out and bother the younger students on their own and Draco was left alone with Pansy who was ignoring him, and Blaise who was nearly asleep on the couch. Draco sat in silence, pondering the dark-haired man he thought he had seen the night before and still couldn't think of anyone he'd known with those looks. The man's face was contorted with rage and had a weathered look about it, like he had seen true horrors or maybe even lived the life of a criminal. He thought about telling Blaise, telling Hermione, even confiding in Snape once again about whom he'd seen, but when playing out all of these situations, he ruled against it instantly. They would either call him crazy as Ron had, tell him it was all because of the mysterious moth that he should get rid of, or that he was just tired and was seeing things.

It wasn't until breakfast on Friday that Draco's bubble of loneliness was broken by a letter from his mother.

Draco, I hope term is going well for you and I miss you dearly. The ministry conducted their raid on the manor a few days ago, and they found nothing, but it was a close call. Thank you for helping me hide everything, and I hope those items you took with you were easy to pawn onto someone. Your father's hearing is scheduled for next month, and with Yaxley at the ministry, he's bound to get out soon after. Sending you all of my love.

Draco read the letter over and over again. His father could possibly be out of prison soon, but that wasn't the sentence that stuck in his mind. The items mentioned were never pawned off, and Draco's life had turned into a great ball of confusion and frustration. Nevertheless, reading his mother's handwriting was very comforting, and he was happy to know that at least one person was still willing to talk to him.

Draco found himself in the library once again, but he was no longer trying to figure out the moth; in fact, he was successfully ignoring it. He was researching for a Potions essay that was due on Monday, and found himself buried in a heap of books. Opening the pages of an ancient volume, he found what he'd forgotten to look for. Chapter 4: Antidotes for love potions. He whipped through the pages like a madman, carelessly tearing a few, and saw that there were at least a dozen different variations of antidotes, and most of them weren't that difficult. He copied all of them down, double checking the amounts and measurements of each ingredient and shoved the parchment into his bag for later use. Distractedly scribbling the remainder of his essay for class, he heard Hermione's voice and looked up. Stomach turning, he expected Ron and Harry to round the corner with her, but he vocally sighed in relief to see Ginny instead. They joined him at the book laden table and started unpacking their bags.

"Er…" Draco started, looking at Ginny.

"I personally have no problem with it. You guys seem happy, Hermione's my friend, and if Ron and Harry want to be childish then bully for them!" She slammed her books on the table, clearly upset about her brother's actions.

"They stopped talking to me. Well, at least Ron did, Harry shows his disappointment, but at least he'll ask me how I'm doing," Hermione paused, "I've missed you all week," she laid her hand palm-up on the table, and Draco grasped it. Her hand was soft and gentle, almost frail in his and she squeezed slightly in appreciation.

Ginny didn't seem bothered as they worked together in silence and Draco understood that it was a girl thing. Her male friends saw him as an enemy, someone to fight and compete against, but for some reason, Ginny seemed to stick by Hermione's side no matter what her choices were. It made Draco think hard about who the better friend was.

The week after proved no different, and the weather was turning even colder, the wind biting more fiercely. The first Hogsmeade trip was scheduled for the second weekend of October, and Hermione was insistent that she and Draco go together. He was used to her assumptions about dates, holding hands, kissing in libraries, but this was different. His friends would surely be expecting his company in the village, and how suspicious would it be for him to be anywhere else? He had a plan, not a good one, but it would have to be done sooner or later.

Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, and (regretfully) Pansy sat in The Three Broomsticks, each with a mug of butterbeer in front of them.

"What's going on? Who are we meeting here?" Goyle asked.

"Just wait, she'll be here anytime now," Draco said glancing at the door.

Seconds later, Hermione walked in by herself and panned the room, searching for Draco's white-blonde head. She cautiously walked over to the table of the Slytherin gang, clearly feeling a bit more intimidated than expected. Draco got up, kissed her cheek, and motioned for her to sit in the chair between him and Blaise. Pansy sneered, nearly baring her teeth like a dog, and Crabbe and Goyle were looking from Draco to Hermione, waiting for Draco's word to attack her with insults.

"So, we figured you would all find out somehow, so we thought we'd make it an easier process. We're together, have been since the start of term," Draco was hoping that the lie he was about to tell would work, "We bumped into each other on vacation during the summer, and realized what we'd been fighting about was petty. Sorry if you feel disgraced or angry, but that's what it's going to be."

Pansy's eyes were bulging from her face, mouth gaping, and Draco's bodyguards were looking at him like he was speaking a different language.

"This? This is why you can't be with me?" Pansy's voice was shaking, "You selfish Mudblood-loving git!" On her last word she simultaneously stood up and splashed her butterbeer towards Draco's face. He flinched, expecting to be drenched, but Hermione's wit was quicker and her wandless magic froze the drink just millimeters from his face.

"Wooah," Crabbe and Goyle were both amazed with her talent.

As Pansy stormed out of the pub into the street, Goyle decided to finally speak about the situation.

"I don't really care. We've just been following what you do since we started school, and I'm personally really happy for you. And Pansy's a bitch," he added for good measure.

Draco gave a short laugh in disbelief as Crabbe nodded in agreement. Hermione smiled and used her wand to transport the frozen butterbeer that was still suspended in midair back into its cup as if it had never been thrown. The odd group sat around the table for more than an hour, mostly talking about the news from Draco and Hermione, but they eventually split up and Draco took to the shops with a list of potions supplies he had made especially for the trip. He walked into the apothecary with Hermione at his side. He found most of the ingredients, some he would have to ask his mum to send, but he walked with a hefty bag of items and a confused look from Hermione.

"Why do you need so many supplies?" She asked as they walked back up to the castle together.

"Just testing some potions I found," he was evading, but he knew she would eventually find out. Hermione may have had a veiled perspective of everything, but her intelligence was still running at a normal rate.

"Can I help?" She was obviously looking for excuses to spend more time with him, but what Draco heard was I'm the best in the class, and when I'm helping, you can't screw up.

"Of course, but I have no idea where I'll be able to do brew potions outside of class without people asking questions."

"I know where! I've secretly brewed potions before, and there's a girls' bathroom that people never go into that works perfectly."

"What did you secretly brew?" Draco was genuinely intrigued with the notion of Hermione breaking school rules.

"Polyjuice Potion. Second year," she seemed proud.

"Hold up," Draco stopped walking and faced her, "A: I can't believe you could make a potion that advanced at age 12, and B: Why the hell did you need it?"

Hermione kept walking slowly, "Harry, Ron, and I thought you were the heir of Slytherin and that you were attacking people so they posed as Crabbe and Goyle, went with you into the common room and tried to get some information," she turned around to the spot where Draco stood, "Are you mad about it?"

"No," Draco started walking again, "I just find it rather ridiculous that you thought I could be the heir of Slytherin."

"Well, some of the things you said made us believe the worst."

It was shocking to Draco that he came across as that horrible of a person, but with his background he could see why some people would assume. It made him feel rather ashamed of his father, and also ashamed of himself for wanting to be like him when he was a child. In a few short weeks, his father's fate would be decided and he could possibly be home for Christmas. Draco was almost afraid to go home; he didn't want to be around when Lucius found out that some of his family's heirlooms had been binned without his consent, and Draco also worried for his mother's safety.

Sunday evening, Hermione was finally available to meet up in the girls' bathroom. Draco brought his new, smaller pewter cauldron and his bag full of supplies along with the parchment that he had written the recipes on. Now that Hermione was with him, he was glad that in his haste of copying the instructions down, he never wrote the names of the potions. Hermione would certainly be concerned if she knew his full intentions.

They got to work in one of the stalls, adding ingredients and stirring every few minutes. The recipe called for the first potion to stew for twenty-four hours after adding the extract of gurdyroot. Draco gave the potion one last little stir before adding the leftover ingredients to his bag with the intent of leaving. He turned, with difficulty to exit the stall, but Hermione stopped him, took the bag from his hand and set in on the floor next to the toilet.

"Still think we're moving too fast?" she asked as she slipped his suit jacket off of his shoulders and leaned against him, "We haven't even kissed in a few weeks."

Draco couldn't find any reason to object; her reasoning was valid, it wasn't very late, his homework was done, and they were all alone. His nerves were the only thing objecting, but he knew he'd have to push through them at some point anyway.

Hermione kissed him a few times before they began to snog, and her sweater was off within a minute. The thin t-shirt was pressed against Draco's black button-up as they kissed more fiercely, and his hands moved on their own again, taking their place on her hips. His tie was on the floor, and she worked the buttons of his tucked-in shirt before pulling it out of his trousers.

Before he knew what was he was doing, his hands were up her shirt, tugging the back of her bra. The clip was found and, although it was a difficult task, finally unhooked. Hermione giggled and pushed Draco's shirt off of him before her hands found his belt buckle. Stomach turning with nervousness, his mouth found her neck for a distraction, as the front of his trousers was open. He interrupted her to pull the shirt over her head and rip off her bra. Though he had no clue what he was doing, he knew what he wanted and it was obvious that Hermione did too.

Hermione was wearing denims today and Draco found himself fumbling over the button and zipper so much that Hermione finished the work for him, and pulled her jeans down and off, revealing the gray lace panties. Draco pinned her to the opposite wall of the stall. Hermione pushed his trousers down as well as he grasped her bottom, but she was sick of waiting, and guided his hand to her center for him. Rubbing absently, he tried to figure out the exact thing to do while a nimble hand found the flap of his boxers, pulling him out in one swift motion. They were in a panting, gasping frenzy, and Draco suddenly soaked Hermione's navel, and she jumped slightly in surprise. He didn't know if it ended too quickly or he just didn't notice the time passing by.

Draco laughed and grabbed some toilet tissue for Hermione to clean herself off, tucked himself away, feeling very self-conscious, and started gathering his clothes. He looked up at the topless Hermione, who was wiping her belly off.

"Sorry about that," Draco said, still trying to catch his breath fully.

"It's fine, I'm just glad you liked it that much," she replied with a devilish smirk as she re-clipped her bra and found her shirt.

"Did you like it? I'm not sure if I was doing it right," Draco admitted, now buttoning his own shirt.

"It felt amazing if that's what you're wondering," Hermione had finished dressing and opened the stall door, "It's bigger than I expected, by the way," she winked and walked away.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Friends and Family

Draco was cozy in his bed, replaying every second of bliss he experienced in that bathroom stall with Hermione, and a smile spread across his face. He never expected himself to even hold a civil conversation with her let alone mess around in toilet stall. He needed to find the right antidote, and he hoped that one of the dozen he'd written down would work just so he didn't have to pretend anymore. How would she react, and what would happen with everyone that knew? Only Blaise knew what really happened, and since everyone believed the lie he told, how odd would it be that they would randomly break up, and what if Hermione can't remember anything?

He checked the antidote they'd left brewing the following evening, and he bottled it up, after re-reading the final instructions a few more times. Hermione met him in the bathroom some time later, and he asked her to try it.

"What is it an antidote for?" She was definitely smart, but Draco knew she'd ask and he was prepared.

"It's not an antidote. I found a book in the manor that has a list of potions disguised as other potions so they won't be detected. It's really just like a Pepper-Up Potion, but it says it has no giggling side effects," Draco had rehearsed this a few times in his head, and knew how to get her to take it, "Please? For me?" He kissed her cheek.

"Oh, alright," she grabbed the phial, and drank it down. Draco waited nervously for her to suddenly ask why she was with him or what they were doing, but nothing changed.

"I don't feel any different," she shrugged.

"Damn!" Draco wanted to pound his fist against the stall, but thought it would be suspicious. That was one failed attempt, and only eleven more to try.

Halloween came up fast, along with a frost that covered every blade of grass upon the Hogwarts grounds. Draco and Hermione both shivered as they made their way down to Hogsmeade for the day. They met Harry, Ron, and Ginny this time and Draco was prepared to receive a barrage of dirty looks, which started the moment he sat with Hermione at their table.

"Hey Hermione," Harry said looking up from his butterbeer. Hermione smiled back, and then looked at Ron, who seemed very interested in the fire burning in the grate next to him.

"So, my I ask why?" Harry asked bluntly, looking Draco straight in the eye.

"Harry, don't," Ginny warned him.

"No, I want to know! How does a slimy bastard like him go from calling her rude names to dating her out of the blue?"

Draco felt the anger rising; Harry and Ron were still enemies to him, and now his patience would be tested. He realized now that Ron started staring him down as well.

"I don't really know how it happened either, to be honest. We had nothing to do on vacation, set our differences aside for while, and liked what we found out. Is it hard to believe that I'm a person with feelings, too?" Draco tried to sound offended, and it seemed to have worked.

Harry waited a few long seconds before answering, "No, Malfoy, I know you have feelings, but it's just weird that you suddenly fancy Hermione. I mean, who says it can't just be a trap to exterminate muggleborns for You-Know-Who?"

"How can you even say that Harry?" Hermione finally spoke up, appalled, "He's my boyfriend, and even if you don't see good in him, I do, so just drop it!"

Draco gulped, not expecting Hermione to defend him, even if it was just the love potion speaking for her. During their time together in the pub, Draco kept quiet as the rest of the group talked, excluding Ron who was still being stubborn. Draco noticed that Ron looked absolutely miserable, then again, who wouldn't be if the girl they were after went for their enemy? There was actually a tiny glint of pity for Ron, though very dim.

They left after a few more mugs of butterbeer, heading up to the castle to await the Halloween feast that everyone was excited for. Draco sat with his usual Slytherin group who stuffed their face full of candied apples and treacle tart while Draco couldn't stop thinking about trying another antidote.

In the common room that night, everyone decided to tell scary stories to stay in the Holiday spirit and Draco joined in, finally enjoying the company of his own house. It wasn't until the wee hours of the morning that students started trickling off to bed, and Draco was one of the first to go.

He was under his blankets staring into the darkness of his closed eyelids when he heard the faint whistling sound of the moth. He was instantly awake, and his hand lunged inside the drawer beside his bed to grab the moth. He was on his back once more and he looked at the moth that felt freezing cold to his touch; it was also fluttering its wings faster than Draco had ever seen.

Snape told him to keep it locked away, but Draco couldn't help himself when it called out so loudly. The door to the dormitory opened, and Draco expected to see one of his friends entering the room, but instead it was the dark, bearded man once again. Draco sat up in an instant, ready to grab his wand if the man made any sort of move.

"Who are you?" Draco asked with a strong, authoritative voice.

"You'll never have her, Malfoy. She never loved you, and you can't live with that can you?" The man moved forward slowly, "Stay away, and you won't get hurt."

"She's only with you because she's afraid of living the life of luxury. She's just afraid of what she wants," Draco lips moved and his vocal chords were working, but it wasn't his brain telling him to say these things, and apparently it was no longer controlling his body either as he got up out of bed, "I will have her. You hold no threat to me, and you never will. If you don't stay out of her life, you won't have a life of your own," he smirked evilly, swelling with power.

"Don't threaten me, you swine!" The man yelled, and Draco swung his arm for a punch, but his wrist was caught, and Draco looked at the hand that stopped his blow, noticing it was Blaise who'd stopped him.

"What the hell?" Draco was shaking.

"Were you dreaming?" Blaise let Draco's arm go, and looked down at the moth that had been dropped on the floor.

"Yeah, I guess so," Draco didn't know what was happening, and now he knew it was the moth that he was now picking up off the floor.

"You look pale, mate," Blaise was concerned.

"I've always been pale."

"You look sick."

"I'm fine, it was probably all the sweets," Draco crawled back into his bed, putting the now silent moth back into the drawer.

Sleep that night was nearly impossible; all Draco could think about was the visions he'd been having and why whoever he was acting as wanted the dark-haired man dead.

The next morning, Draco decided to write his mother, asking for the remainder of the potion supplies he would need. He also thought it would be smart to ask Dumbledore about the moth; even though Snape told Draco to lock it away, he still wanted to know what it was, and he couldn't see any other way.

It was Sunday once again, and Snape would surely be in his office at this time of the day so Draco ventured to the office by himself with the moth in his pocket. Knocking twice on the door and waiting for Snape to answer, Draco rolled the moth between his fingers, feeling for anything unusual (at least anymore unusual than it already was).

Snape opened the door, raising his eyebrows at the sight of Draco.

"Morning, Professor."

Snape didn't say anything, but just moved aside, allowing Draco to come in. Draco sat across from his mentor who was now behind the desk, and made to take the moth out of his pocket like he did at their last meeting.

"I know why you're here; it has been bothering you, has it not?"

"Yes, I've been having weird visions whenever I hold it or have it with me and I don't know what they're about or who the people are in them, but it's really freaking me out," Draco admitted everything without taking a breath.

Snape looked at the moth that was now sitting on the table like before, but this time he picked it up and held it closer to his face to observe it, "I can hold onto it to test it's magic, see what it is," Snape said, turning it over and looking at it from all angles.

"I was actually going to ask you if Professor Dumbledore could help me, I mean, he usually knows everything so it could be possible he knows what this is, too," Draco could feel the rejection coming.

"I would advise you to do so, but he's traveling at this time. I'll keep it until he gets back and show him as soon as I can," Snape shut it away in his desk, and Draco had the urge to ask for it back, but knew better. Why did he want is anyways? It gave him questionable dream, strange visions, and Blaise said it changed his attitude as well. Even with all of this, however, Draco wanted it near him at all times, like it was a child.

"Thank you, Professor," Draco got up to leave.

"Mr. Malfoy," Snape called his attention once more.

"Yes, sir?" Draco faced him.

"Good luck with the game next weekend; I hope you can help Slytherin finally win the cup this year," he smirked.

"Thank you, Professor."

Without the moth burdening him, Draco decided to start work on the second antidote on his list, and just like before, Hermione was right at his side to help.

"I'm surprised your friends are so understanding; especially compared to Ron. I can't believe how's he's been acting."

"I can't believe Potter would actually assume I was helping the Dark Lord," Draco shook his head. He was finding easier to talk with Hermione comfortably as the weeks went on. He stirred the last few ingredients into the potion (with Hermione watching over his shoulder), put a small sample into a phial, and handed it to Hermione.

"What am I, a guinea pig?"

"Of sorts," Draco winked, trying to be playful enough so she wouldn't be threatened.

"What is this one, then?" she swirled the potion around as if it were a glass of wine.

"It's the same as before, just a few things added. Hopefully it works this time."

Convinced, Hermione tipped the phial into her mouth and gulped. She grimaced a little at the taste, and waited for something to happen, but just like before, nothing did. Draco wanted to scream in frustration; nothing was working, and it was getting more and more difficult to handle the disappointment.

"Are you sad?" Hermione asked, emptying the failed potion into the toilet.

"No, I just wish I could get these potions right."

"I'm sure you'll get it eventually, and I'll help you with them," she reached her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss.

"I have an essay to finish," Draco lied, not being in any kind of mood to be lovey-dovey.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you tomorrow in class," Hermione said sadly. He walked her to the Grand Staircase and said goodnight, sulking down to the dungeons, feeling defeated.

Blaise was in a nosey state when Draco sat down in the common room, looking crabby.

"Nothing working, eh?"

"No."

"I thought Granger was helping you with it," Blaise scowled.

"She is; it's the potions that aren't working. That stupid ancient potion is too strong," Draco said with extra emphasis on the work 'stupid'.

"How many more are there left to try?"

"Ten."

"Well, don't get so pissed about it yet, there's still some hope. I don't see why you're so adamant on reversing it thought, she's bloody hot."

"Oh, come on, Blaise!" Draco knew Blaise would perv on Hermione sooner or later.

"What? She is! Have you, uh, you know…" Blaise smirked.

"No, Blaise, and it's none of your business anyways. Besides, if I did and we actually do find a potion to reverse this, don't you think she'll believe I took advantage of her?"

"True, but she doesn't seem like a kiss-and-tell type of girl. It could just be between the two of you."

"I'm not taking my chances."

"Oh come on, Draco, you're not even the least bit interested in sex?" Blaise was notorious for being one of the few non-virgins in the sixth year.

"I never said I wasn't interested, I just don't want to mess things up worse than they already are, okay?"

"Okay, fine, whatever mate," Blaise put his hands up is surrender to Draco ending the conversation. Crabbe and Goyle both sat down a few minutes later, but Pansy was nowhere to be seen. In fact, Draco hadn't seen her since she stormed out of The Three Broomsticks almost two weeks before.

"Where the hell has Pansy been hiding?"

"I think she's been in the dorm a lot," Blaise said, not really caring. As annoying as she was, Draco still didn't want her to do anything stupid over him, and he was worried. He waited for her presence until after midnight, but she never came down from the dorms, and he finally gave up and went to bed.

Time raced by as Draco failed at yet another attempted antidote, and heard no word from Snape or Dumbledore. He had, however, finally seen Pansy outside of class lurking in the back of the library alone. His pity for her washed away quickly due to the tidal wave of nerves that came with the first Quidditch game only a day away.

Their last practice on Thursday night went better than any other pre-game practice, but it didn't keep Draco from being close to vomiting the day of the match. Hermione walked down to the pitch holding Draco's hand the whole way down, receiving all types of confused looks from the other students. They kissed and she set off into the stands with Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville, and Draco wondered who she would cheer for. The game was against Hufflepuff, and no Gryffindor in their right mind would cheer for Slytherin, except perhaps the potion-induced Hermione.

The team shared a nervous silence in the locker room before grabbing their brooms and stepping out onto the pitch to an uproar of applause and chanting. Both teams mounted their brooms, and the snitch and quaffle were released simultaneously. The game whistle was blown, and Draco sped off in search of the snitch, casually moving out of the bludgers' paths. Not fifteen minutes went by and Slytherin was already ahead sixty to ten. It wasn't until the score was two-hundred to ninety that Draco saw the glint of the snitch, and unfortunately, so had the Hufflepuff seeker. They raced towards it almost side-by-side and Draco could hear Hermione screaming for him to go faster when he swooshed by the Gryffindors' stands.

Both seekers were reaching out for the tiny golden ball, closing in on it, but Draco knew how to play dirty, and angled his broom just enough so their legs touched; then Draco pushed towards the other seeker in a jerking motion, hooking his foot onto his opponent's foot-rest, causing him to spin out, and giving Draco the small window of opportunity to catch the snitch for his own team. He caught it and held in high for everyone to see while circling the pitch and the Slytherin stands erupted into screaming and applause as well as some singing.

The team left the field in a rowdy, playful and triumphant mood, many of them slapping Draco a little too hard on the back, or jumping on each other in excitement. They had all talked about the match while they washed up and started to change into their regular clothes. Once everyone else left, Blaise was waiting at the door of the locker room for Draco to follow.

"I'm going to wash my face; I'll see you in the common room."

Blaise turned and left, and Draco ran the tap to splash warm water on his frozen face. The door opened again as Draco grabbed blindly for a towel from the rack beside him.

"I said I'll meet you there, mate, you can go without me," Draco said, muffled, into the towel that was now pressed against his face.

He finished drying and looked into the mirror before whipping around in shock; it wasn't Blaise who had entered the locker room. Instead, Draco turned around to see his father smirking about his son's victory, but there was a menacing look in his eyes that Draco had never seen there before.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Pale Dingy Truth

"Father, what-what are you doing here?" Draco stammered in shock

"I came to see you play, son," Lucius added insincerely, "Well done."

Draco stood frozen beside the sink as his father casually strolled around the locker room, pretending to take interest in the things hanging on the walls. Draco noticed that his father seemed pale, almost lighter than his white-blond hair, but something else that Draco couldn't put his finger on was different, too and he thought that maybe Azkaban had brought his father even closer to evil.

"Why did you allow your mother to throw half of our belongings away?" Lucius asked bluntly.

Draco didn't answer; he had not expected this question and it was puzzling that it was the first thing that his father brought up. He looked at Draco, waiting for an answer, but it never came.

"There were a few items that I specifically told her not to touch, and now they are missing," Lucius was still scanning the walls.

"What items?" Draco asked, but for some reason the moth popped into his head instantly.

"It's not important what they are, Draco. I just need to know where your mother stored the rest of the items. I've already searched out private chamber and found nothing that I have dire need for."

Draco was afraid to speak; he knew his father was masking his true anger and he didn't want to see it unleashed. Nevertheless, Draco told what he thought was the truth.

"She binned them," he said, "I don't know where, but she said she'd just gotten rid of them."

Lucius's chest swelled with disappointment, and Draco kept his eyes on the floor. His father edged slowly closer as he spoke:

"There will be consequences if you aren't telling me all that you know, son. Your mother already knows that."

Draco snapped his head up to lock with his father's gaze.

"What did you do to her?" Now Draco's temper was rising along with his fear.

"Don't concern yourself with what was coming to her, Draco, I just need to know if you have kept anything from the house here at school," Lucius's face was only a foot away now, and Draco felt conflicted about telling his father about the moth and the potion. Lucius cocked his head, awaiting a response from his only heir, and the silence seemed to last a decade as Draco finally decided to protect the moth until he knew more about it.

"There was a phial of potion. It was orange-coloured and it looked really old and had no label, but I don't have it anymore."

"Where is it?" Lucius looked menacing.

"I dumped it during class. My bag spilled along with everything on the table and I thought it was a leftover potion from the lesson. It wasn't until later that I realized which phial I had emptied," Draco was close to fainting as he met his father's furious eyes. Lucius looked as though he wanted to kill someone, and instead grabbed the back of Draco's neck, pulling his ear closer so as to whisper.

"That potion was incredibly valuable, son, do you understand?" Draco stared at the ground once again, and nodded his comprehension and his father released his harsh grip, "How do you expect to repay me, Draco?"

Draco swallowed and replied quietly:

"Take it out of my inheritance?"

Lucius laughed slightly.

"You don't understand after all. You see, that potion has been in our family for many years and I was intending to use it. It wasn't valuable in price, my son, but personally, and you will be home during Christmas to repay me, and you can believe me when I say that you will regret your indifference."

With that last threat, Lucius strutted out of the locker room and most likely down to Hogsmeade village to disapparate. Draco was shaken, and he had no idea whether his father had really been there or if it was another one of his odd visions. Then he reminded himself that not only was the moth locked safely away in the castle, but his neck felt bruised where his father's hand had gripped him unmercifully.

Draco made his way out and back up to the castle, looking over his shoulder to the path leading to Hogsmeade to see a figure walking toward the little village; it definitely wasn't a vision. The statues passing by in a gray, stone blur, Draco was contemplating his father's words, and he realized that his father actually intended on using the potion meaning that he knew what it was. Nobody Draco knew of could possibly be under threat of receiving a love potion from his father, and his mother's face popped into his head just before he entered the common room.

Draco's thoughts were washed away as the whole of Slytherin house was pouncing to congratulate him and pat his back for the win on the Quidditch pitch. While his friends and classmates drank butterbeer and hooted and hollered until well after midnight, Draco tried (and failed) to keep in good spirits with the daunting threat of his father hovering over his head.

Sleeping was a difficult task as Draco imagined himself being tortured in different ways by his father or an array of death eaters. Every time he was woken up by his nightmares, he shook off the thought of his own father being on that level of cruel, but after the meeting not long ago, he no longer knew what to believe.

Successfully ignoring the moth for three full weeks, Draco had plenty of time outside of class to test more antidotes with Hermione, but this proved disappointing. The next two antidotes did nothing but give Hermione a stubborn case of the hiccups, and Draco felt close to breaking down completely.

It was late in the evening during the first week of December when Draco and Hermione were finishing the sixth potion on his list. Almost half of them had failed and Hermione was starting to get suspicious.

"So, why do you have me testing all of these? If they're such innocent potions, why can't you just take them?" She was leaning against one of the sinks holding the little phial.

"Don't you trust me?" Draco asked moving to lean on the sink next to her.

"I do, but I just don't get it, Draco. I feel like you're tricking me into taking something potentially poisonous."

Draco sighed and turned to face her, "Look, I'm not trying to trick you, and I'm not poisoning you. I just thought since you're amazing at every subject, you'd like to help me with this. At least we get to spend extra time together, right?" Draco buttered her up just enough.

Hermione kissed him and drank the potion down. Expecting nothing to happen, Draco just watched her casually. She blinked a couple of times, and looked around the room slowly.

"You okay?" Draco asked looking closer.

"Yeah, I- What is this potion again?"

"I told you, it's just a simple pep-"

Hermione suddenly vomited right in front of Draco's feet, clutching her stomach.

"Draco! What- Argh! What did you give me?"

"We need to get you to the hospital wing," avoiding an explanation, Draco put his arm around her, leading her out of the washroom hastily, "Just tell Madam Pomfrey that you might have eaten something bad, okay?"

"Why?" Hermione was doubled over as they tried to hurry through the corridors.

"Just, trust me, please?" Draco was so panicked he almost forgot which way to go to get her to the nurse.

Hermione vomited again just a few feet from the door, and Madam Pomfrey must have heard as she had rushed out to greet them in a flourish.

"What happened?" She inquired, lying Hermione down on a bed and fetching a basin.

"I don't know," Draco lied, "We were walking along and she just puked! I think it was something she ate."

Hermione was too focused on trying not to heave again to stop Draco from lying, and Pomfrey shooed him away.

"I'll visit tomorrow morning, okay?"

Hermione just glared at him before dropping her head into the basin, and Draco knew he was in serious trouble. He ran back to the girls' bathroom to grab his bag, and bolted to the Slytherin common room.

"Blaise, upstairs, NOW!" He ordered as he rushed through.

Blaise followed him to the secluded dorm, as Draco launched his bag across the room with a crash.

"What happened?"

"She got sick! I gave her one of the antidotes and she just got sick! What the hell am I going to do?"

"Okay, just calm down mate, I'm sure there's something we can figure out. Where is she now?"

"The hospital wing, I told Pomfrey it was something she ate," Draco sat on the edge of his bed and dropped his head into his hands.

"Okay, so when she gets better we can, um..." Blaise trailed off into thought.

"I don't think she'll let me give her another one. She was already getting suspicious about me not trying any of them. I still have six left to try, too!"

"Well, maybe once you repair things, you can just slip the new ones into her butterbeer when we're all in Hogsmeade, or Tell Weasel-ette what really happened and have her do it during meals?"

Draco's head was reeling, but Blaise seemed to make a lot of sense.

"That's actually a great idea, Blaise. I mean, _my_ best friend knows what really happened, why shouldn't hers? Plus, she can act as a sort-of inside agent, and let me know if the affects start wearing off or anything like that. Then again, if somebody sees her, she could then blame it on us, and we would be in very serious-"

"Draco, you're rambling."

"Sorry," Draco sighed heavily, "I'll visit her tomorrow and see whether she hates me again or not."

The next morning Draco was awake earlier than he intended to be, but it made sense to visit Hermione before anyone else had a chance to. He walked through the chilly corridors alone, and extremely nervous; it was as though he was walking to his own execution. The door was unlocked and Hermione was sleeping peacefully on her bed. Once at her side, Draco grasped her hand, attempting to gently wake her up.

Hermione's eyes fluttered open and she squinted at him through the morning sunlight that was peeking through the window.

"How are you feeling?" Draco asked, trying to be as empathetic as possible.

"I'm okay," her voice was a bit raspy, "was vomiting until about midnight, but I feel better now."

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," Draco meant every word. Never did he intend to give her a harmful potion.

"It's okay. I know you didn't mean to, but after what happened last night I want you to try every potion with me from now on okay?"

"Sure," he said, relieved that she wasn't angry.

Hermione was out of the hospital wing by lunch time, and as Draco sat at his house's table, Harry and Ron glared at him, and even Ginny looked upset. They knew something happened because of him, even after Hermione told them it was food poisoning.

After classes, Hermione sat with Draco and the other Slytherins in the library, as Draco looked up what would happen if he took an antidote with having taken a love potion. He was lucky Hermione was distracted by her Charms essay, and he finally felt completely at ease after reading that antidotes have no negative effects when brewed properly.

This also meant that the antidote they tried the night before wasn't brewed correctly at all, and Draco made a note to remake it and double-check every single step he took along the way. Usually Draco tried to brew the potions himself as Hermione blabbed on about anything and everything, but next time he would ask her watch him diligently.

The next day as Draco was packing up his bag to leave the potions classroom, Snape asked to speak with him.

"Yes Professor?" Draco stood on the other side of Snape's desk, waiting to hear news about the moth.

"I wish to speak with you in my office around nine o'clock this evening," Snape made it sounds very important.

"Is this about that moth?"

"Yes, but I shall not say anymore about it here. Tonight, Mr. Malfoy," Snape excused him and Draco stalked off to his next lesson intrigued. He decided to give the potion-sampling a break for a few nights so Hermione could recover fully, not to mention he had some homework to catch up on before his meeting with Snape.

The corridors were deserted when Draco made his way to the potion master's office, and when he arrived Snape was already at his desk with the moth in front of him. Draco took up a chair and waiting for Snape to say the first words.

"As I have said, Draco, this is an extremely powerful item, and I'm sure it is no news to you that it is also riddled with dark magic. I don't know what exactly it is, but I do have a hunch about what it could be. On another note," he paused for a moment, "I believe it belongs to your father."

Draco was stunned.

"How do you know?"

"When you had those visions, do you know who occupied them?"

"No, I didn't even recognize who I was. At least not from the voice anyways," Draco felt that the voice was definitely familiar, but hadn't given it much thought until now.

"Well, I had a couple of dreams of my own, Mr. Malfoy, and I am certain that they were very similar to your own. One was about a young man at Hogwarts asking a dark haired girl to Hogsmeade, and getting rejected. Does this sound familiar to you?"

"Yes, that's exactly what happened in the first dream that I had," Draco's nerves were on edge, and he sensed that no pleasant information would come from this meeting.

"I see that you failed to recognize your own father's voice. You see, I grew up with him here, and let me assure you that he is not who you think he is," Snape had leaned slightly closer to Draco from across the desk.

Draco was nervous; he had never expected to hear horrible things about his father, especially from Snape, a fellow death eater.

"What do you mean, sir?" Draco broke the long, uncomfortable silence.

"Your father always got what he wanted, and I can assure you that when he didn't, things got ugly."

Completely lost, Draco gave the professor a confused look, and Snape simply sighed.

"He was rejected from Bella in his sixth year at Hogwarts, and many times might I add," Snape explained, "I heard that after school had ended, your father tracked her down and tried to woo her. When that didn't work, he moved onto more cunning plans: He convinced her sister that it was really her that he was in love with. He used her for years to try and get to Bella, but the right time never came. With the Dark Lord's downfall, and the convictions of death eaters, as well as your birth, your father never found an opportunity to catch her."

Draco thought for a moment before trying to grip onto what Snape was saying.

"So you're saying that my father is actually in love with my aunt, and he's been using my mother this whole time to get to her?"

"It is very unpleasant to think about, but yes, basically."

"Why?" Draco was disgusted. Not only had he been lied to his whole life, but his mother deserved to be treated far better than that.

"I don't know, Draco. All I can say is that this item holds a very strong connection with your father and his love for Bellatrix. It would be best to not only keep it hidden, but also keep it away from him. Nobody knows what his intentions are for it, and I believe we'd be safer not to find out. Now, I bid you goodnight Mr. Malfoy, and I'm sorry I couldn't be of anymore help."

Draco walked back to his dorm slowly with the moth weighing his pocket down more than ever. The hatred rising towards his father was nearly impossible to keep in, and he wished he could stay at school over the Christmas holiday. He was far too worried about his mother and scared of his father more now than ever to even think about requesting to stay in the castle.

Pushing his anger aside, Draco contemplated what Snape had told him about the moth. Still not knowing what it was or what it did, Draco had to keep it away from his father. As Draco laid his head down on his pillow with the moth tucked away in his trunk this time, he thought about his father's intentions. The recent conversations with his father and with Snape were twisting through his head.

He nearly sat up at the thought of the love potion. His father was intending to use it, and Draco could now see clear as day that Lucius was going to use the potion on Bellatrix. His epiphany didn't keep him awake half the night, but the mystery of what the moth was going to be used for kept Draco's eyes open until nearly dawn.


End file.
